At a press conference hosted by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance
(PACJA), a platform for over 300 civil society groups in 45 African
countries, leaders speaking on behalf of trade-unions, gender, and
environmental justice groups outlined essential elements of any just
outcome from the annual UN climate conference to be held this December
in Durban, South Africa.

"Climate change zeroes in on African women. Climate change will hit
Africa hardest. It already is, our crops don't grow like they used to,
the rains don't come when they're supposed to. These changes hurt the
poor, the majority of who are women. African women are engaged in the
fight of, and for, their lives in these talks because even a temperature
rise of 2C would cause devastation to our crops, farms and families",
Cecilia Kibe, climate justice campaigner with the Kenya Climate Change
Network said.

"To limit the harm to Africans temperature rise must be limited to
between 1 to 1.5C. But at the moment, under the so-called Cancun
Agreement, countries' reduction pledges risk 5C of warming. That's
unthinkable and unconscionable. To get off this road to ruin we need
much deeper emission cuts, 50% of developed countries' emissions on 1990
levels by 2017. And we need to make sure that those cuts happen - the
Kyoto Protocol represents the system to internationally enforce
emissions cuts, it must be continued in Durban and Africans demand that
no country walk away from it." Augustine Njamnshi, Central Africa
coordinator of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), said.

"South Africans are watching how our government prepares to host the UN
climate conference in December. South African social movements were at
the forefront of the fight against one of the 20th century's greatest
moral injustices: apartheid. Today we stand ready to lead global
movements against the most significant moral injustice of the 21st
century: climate change." Bobby Peek, Director of groundWork (Friends of
the Earth South Africa) said.

"We watched with disappointment at how the Mexican government undermined
open and accountable decision making in Cancun. South Africa is building
a new democracy, and we expect our Government to support democratic
processes globally by having open, transparent and accountable climate
negotiations - where every country is respected. The South African
Government cannot have secret or selective side meetings to prepare for
these talks - they need to tell the world: when, where, and who they're
meeting and how they're going to be accountable to the voices of those
most vulnerable to climate change: women, farmers and the poor, by
ensuring their effective and meaningful participation in these
meetings." Mr Peek said.

"Climate change requires a just transition for African workers to new
industries, clean technologies and first and foremost requires a safe
environment. African trade unions will be mobilizing to support our
brothers and sisters in ensuring that Africa's COP delivers for Africa.
That means deep emission cuts in the North contained in the Kyoto
Protocol, compensation to finance our transition to low carbon societies
and an open process where governments can be held to account by their
citizens." Yahya Msangi, General Secretary of the International Trade
Union Confederation (ITUC) - Africa, said.

A copy of the "Stand Up for Africa" declaration on climate change made
by PACJA, ITUC-Africa and the Africa Trade Network (ATN) can be found here.

PACJA is a platform for over 300 civil society groups in 45 African
countries working on climate change. This is a cross section of groups
representing indigenous, women, youth, faith/religious, trade and labor,
energy, water, agriculture, pastoralists and fisherfolk affected by
climate change. The continental secretariat is based in Nairobi, Kenya

This site is designed for use by the general public. This site does not collect any personal information from users, does not use cookies and does not display advertising. The content is not influenced by sponsors. groundWork takes no responsibility for errors in information included from third party sources though we try our best to ensure that it is valid - view full Disclaimer here.